Eloise calls down a hail of stones that bludgeon the man in the darkness as Sour Heck begins to inspire the party once more.
Initiative:
1st: Gnome @ 26
2nd: Peredur @ 33/44 HP; Eloise @ 4/43 HP; Sour Heck @ 41/41 HP; Iesha (3 Strength Damage) @ 19/33 HP;
Iesha and Peredur look around in the darkness frantically, but are paralyzed by the fear that they might die here.
Her fear might be realized as the creature sinks two more strikes into her body with his handaxes, though you can tell that the creature's labored breathing probably means that he is running out of steam as well.
The group hears Iesha scream out in pain as the gnome-like creature continues to hack at her.
Initiative:
1st: Gnome @ 26
2nd: Peredur @ 33/44 HP; Eloise @ 4/43 HP; Sour Heck @ 41/41 HP; Iesha (3 Strength Damage) @ 2/33 HP;
"Get back--I'll hold him!"
Cursing under her breath, Eloise makes a grab for Iesha and starts to back out of the battle-zone.
Sour Heck alternates between arguing under his breath with his muttering blade and listening intently to the darkness.
If Iesha retreats, Peredur will advance into the darkness and take another swing at the gnome.
Iesha, badly wounded but still trying to pull her weight, will once more channel energy, then retreat (to the spot where the E5 shows).
Iesha heals the group and then retreats as Eloise chugs a potion of Cure Light Wounds.
As she steps back, the creature lashes out at Iesha in the darkness, cutting into her.
Peredur steps forward and tries to hit the 'gnome' and actually strikes the creature as Sour Heck holds his ground.
Peredur feels the bite of the handaxes as well as they strike extremely vulnerable places. He knows that he can't withstand another flurry of blades like that without falling.
"GET OUT!" is heard bellowed in the darkness.
Initiative:
1st: Gnome @ 33
2nd: Peredur @ 18/44 HP; Eloise @ 26/43 HP; Sour Heck @ 41/41 HP; Iesha (3 Strength Damage) @ 7/33 HP;
"No," Eloise growls as she tries to hone in on the sound of the Gnome's voice.
"No!" as her black blade rises in the darkness, arcs of electricity suddenly playing about the lightless metal. Somehow, the sword itself seems to feel the proper path to the target and it flows into a groove in the air.
"" as the sword comes down. Lightning explodes in the dark, unloading itself into unprotected flesh even as black metal slices into it and sheds blood!
Eloise swings her sword through the air, but she seems to be off by about five feet. Luckily, her Shocking Grasp doesn't discharge from her weapon as she still feels the hair-raising electricity coursing through her arm.
Initiative:
1st: Gnome @ 33
2nd: Peredur @ 18/44 HP; Eloise @ 26/43 HP; Sour Heck @ 41/41 HP; Iesha (3 Strength Damage) @ 7/33 HP;
Peredur swings wildly in the dark, then retreats back into the dim light.
Hearing Peredur retreating from the door, Sour Heck inhales sharply, then lets out a surprisingly earnest war cry.
He then charges the doorway with an underarm swing suitable for removing a goblin head from a goblin neck.
Sour Heck connects with the creature, drawing more blood onto his blade, as Iesha still wonders what to do. The group braces for another assault, but the assailant seems to have disappeared.
Searching for the creature once more, the group only finds a masterwork handaxe radiating Darkness. As they bring it into the small shaft of light from the opening, they can see in the dim light that the name 'Grine' is scrawled into the handle.
After the handaxe is covered, the group finds that the light levels return to normal and those with elvish blood are able to find a few sets of valuable gear in the two rooms.
"That were unpleasant. Best we continue quickly--th' gnome will raise an alarm."
"That were unpleasant. Best we continue quickly--th' gnome will raise an alarm."
"Those wounds are alarming enough. Let me get the wand out again--it'll probably just seal the poison up inside you, though." Despite his jokes, Sour Heck moves quickly to treat his companion's wounds.
The last healing droplet exhausts the wand. No matter how Sour Heck cajoles and shakes it, the wand is unresponsive. "Well of course it runs out right before I need it," the bard complains.
He peers around the area. "I suppose my daggers are lost too?"
The room into which the creature was luring you is actually a balcony overlooking an area labeled 'The Vats', if the placard above the door is to be believed.
This chamber occupies a whole side of the building, from the cellar level below up to the roof high above. Seven iron vats, each ten feet across, occupy the majority of the room. Furnaces fuel the vats at cellar level, while at the ground floor level a series of planks have been laid across the vats to allow passage to a ladder that leads to an iron walkway on the level above. Two ladders also allow access from the planks to the floor below. The air in the chamber is cloying and acidic.
It looks as if there were workers in here recently and the fumes seem to be getting to you.
"Everyone, hold your breath and we'll make for th' doors there."
Iesha studies their finds. "Well, these should be useful. Anyone still poisoned? Hm. Looks like we have a follower of Norgorber here."
She turns to Peredur and asks "First door then? as she prepares to bolt.
The group holds their breath as Iesha informs them of the nauseous vapors. They rush into the first door on the balcony and find a bedchamber, possibly of the creature they just fought.
As much an abattoir as a bedchamber, this room contains not only a four-poster bed, but also numerous workbenches and alchemical gear. The walls are lined with shelves and strange-looking objects in jars of liquid. Bits of rags litter the floor, and the air is heavy with the stench of spoiled food mixed with acrid chemicals. A ladder leads to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
The many jars about the room contain alchemically preserved body parts from a variety of creatures. One bell jar full of liquid contains a small gold key at the bottom.
"Careful," Eloise says, narrowing her eyes at the scene. "Some of these chemicals will be... Oh, hello."
The Magus walks over to the bell jar with the golden key and squints at it. "Yeah, we're going to have to get that out," she says, businesslike. "Chances are the muck is toxic or caustic, though. Anyone got a mage hand-spell handy?"
Sour Heck leans in close to the bell jar, sniffing it critically. "Hmmm. I've been served worse. Wait...barmaid, there's something in my drink." He produces his handkerchief and covers the side of the bell jar with it, then lifts it up slowly with a dramatic flutter. "Ta da! the key is gone! But where? Not up this sleeve, and not...aaaaaaaagh!"
Sour Heck falls to his knees, clenching his fist, which can be seen to be smoking slightly. "AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH....is the sound I would make if this key really was red hot or something." He puts the key daintily down on a workbench and waves away the smoke with a theatrical gesture. "Just getting in a little practice, warming up my lungs for whatever's next."
The bard then starts picking gingerly through the room. "Gnome seems to be a bachelor...no surprise there. These crusty underpants, while startling, aren't exactly a surprise either." He gives the room a thorough search, using his Mage Hand spell to move the more objectionable bits.
Sour Heck looks around the room and sees the body parts in the jars, but one small jar contains only a key, to which he fishes it out with his magic. In addition, the man finds a lockbox under the gnome-sized bed.
Using the key to open the box, the group finds that the chest contains 200 gp, four vials of antitoxin, and a small purple velvet purse containing 4 small, cloudy diamonds worth 300 gp each.
Taking stock of the room, the group determines that the curios and medical
oddities, including a complete alchemist’s lab and four vials of antitoxin that Grine has recently crafted would be worth 750 gp to the right collector.
"It's an interesting life he's been after having, but there's naught here seems related to th' contract with Dr. Brada. Mayhap he keeps his files elsewhere, and only conducts such business as interests him most in his bedchambers??"
"Bah, it was the Gnome's life's savings," Eloise scoffs as she frowns at the lockbox. "I doubt that he's the one in charge around here, and we've seen naught of the workers as yet. Let's keep going, but be prepared for more tricks and treachery..."
"It's his name come second in th' business--is it Vorkstag we're after wanting, now?"
"Well, let's keep searching, then. This...room...is enough evidence to charge at least this Grine with ... several offenses."
She turns to Sour Heck."If you still need some healing, take this now."
She hands him the CLW potion.
Sour Heck sniffs the vial Iesha gave him. "Ugh, smells like wine squeezed from a sock. Ye gods, what a memory. Well, I imagine I'll drink it fast enough it after I catch a blade to the vitals. Unless it's my throat that's cut, that is..." The bard mimes blood and healing potion pouring down over his collar.
He rummages around Grine's workbenches. "All these sharp tools, and not a decent man-sized blade among them. Eloise, what would you trade for that shiny dagger we carried out of Harrowstone? I think mine tumbled into those vats back there. Or the gnome has them, in which case I expect he'll return them exactly where and when I don't want them. Anyway, I could use a good dagger, and you have one."
"Peredur, I don't know if any of this relates to Doctor Brada, but I wonder if some of these bits might have come out of the graves of Morast. It's a long shot, but Elder Lazne might recognize a tattoo, a mole..." The bard ducks down and poses with his teeth bared next to a set of jaws floating in a jar. "...a familiar grin. The graverobbing tools we found were man-sized, though. Yes, we'd best have a look around for good Vorkstag and gentle Grine. Up the hatch, or the second door on the balcony?"
Peredur shudders at the realization that some of the parts are from human bodies. "Mayhap interesting is not th' word I'd use for th'gnome's predilections. Th' other door on th' balcony, I'm thinking. We'd not like to be taken unawares while climbing."
"Keep ready that axe of darkness," Eloise says, eyebrows lowering. "I've a mind to return it to that Gnome. From the south up, as it were."
"You think the hatch might be dangerous? I doubt there's a bunch of rocks and a huge stirge up there...what are the chances of that happening twice?" The bard peers up at the ceiling. "Yeah, okay, it could happen. Balcony door it is."
The bard pauses, picks up one of the vials of antitoxin, and drinks it off in a gulp. "Huh...kind of minty. But not alcohol. Well, it was worth a try. I suppose it might help if Vorkstag or Grines throw more poison at us. Plenty for everyone, over here."
Sour Heck turns to Eloise. "You want his axe? Think you could throw it straight? They're too flippy, in my experience. Even full-sized ones, just too flippy. And I just had those daggers whetted the way I like them..." He heads back out onto the balcony, holding his breath against the fumes, and almost immediately slips banana-peel style on a dagger. Shrugging, the bard sticks it back in his belt, and pries the other out of a wall. "I'd still trade you for the shiny one," he mouths to Eloise. "How about my share of them diamonds?"
Peredur takes a few deep breaths inside the gnome's room before following Sour Heck out, shaking his head at the bard's pratfall with a grin.
The group grabs and catalogues all of the inventory into their satchels as they hold their breath and move back into the warehouse area, but before Sour Heck can retrieve his daggers, a cackling comes from the edge of one of the giant kettles.
"Seems that we have intruders and that you've scared off Grine... Oh well, I'll just have to find another assistant." the creepy man says, perched in a squatting position. The skin on his face and arms seems extremely loose and you can see the hint of stitching along the chest, behind the open tunic. His lack of armor is noticeable, but the large mace in his right hand isn't.
Initiative
; +2 in Leipstadt
Initiative:
1st: Sour Heck
2nd: Mysterious Stranger
3rd: Eloise; Peredur; Iesha
Sour Heck gawks at the creep a moment, then rolls his eyes and jerks his thumb at him, a quick little pantomime that says, Look at that freak! He actually expects us to chase him out over those vats? Not this bard!
Snorting, the bard opens the door to the next room and, beckoning the others to follow, ducks inside, out of the fumes and out of the stranger's line of sight.